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With 4-stroke lead at halfway point, can Denver native Wyndham Clark become 24th golfer to win at least 2 U.S. Opens? He’s hoping strong weekend helps him win back some fans

By Gary Baines 

What is it about Colorado high school graduates and the U.S. Open?

They don’t seem to win the other three men’s major championships, but they sure do seem to be in their element at the U.S. Open.

Hale Irwin (Boulder High School and University of Colorado alum) won three of them — in 1974, ’79 and ’90, and remains the oldest winner ever of the championship, at 45.

Steve Jones (Yuma High School and CU alum) claimed the U.S. Open title 30 years ago this month, in 1996.

And Wyndham Clark (Valor Christian High School) scored the victory of his young career at the 2023 U.S. Open.

And now, Clark has put himself in great position to become the 24th man to win two or more of these national championships.

The Denver native and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer finished off a 6-under-par 64 at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y., on Friday, then tacked on a 1-under 69, capping it off with a 33-foot birdie on the 18th hole. Then, after watching Friday afternoon’s wave of players try to cut into his lead — and largely failing — Clark finds himself with a four-stroke lead at the halfway point of the U.S. Open, at 7 under par overall.

“My goal is to try to get to 10 or 11” under, he said Friday. “… I really felt like I could be in double digits, but the great thing about that is I didn't feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully I can bring my A-game on the weekend.”

The 32-year-old, an honorary member at Cherry Hills Country Club since last year, is four up on fellow major champions Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick, along with Tom Kim and Sam Stevens.

Other big names on the leaderboard include Collin Morikawa (-2), Justin Thomas (-1), Scottie Scheffler (even) and Rory McIlroy (even).

Clark had to play 20 holes on Friday as fog on Thursday precluded some players from completing round 1 that day. He finished play at sunset on Thursday, then resumed at 6:35 a.m. on Friday. He said that led to only 5 1/2 hours of sleep.

“Yesterday, I really drove it great, and then I was just really conservative into the greens,” he said. “These greens are obviously the challenge of this golf course. Then today I kind of did the same thing. I wasn't as sharp, but the consistency of hitting it to kind of conservative targets really paid off.”

Thanks to a large extent to a putter switch — to a Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset model — in late March, Clark has been on a tear of late. And after also working with Cherry Hills Country Club PGA director of instruction Pat Coyner on his ball-striking, things are definitely trending in a big way. After slumping in 2025 and early 2026, Clark picked up career PGA Tour victory No. 4 last month at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, then placed third at the Memorial and 11th at the RBC Canadian Open.

And it’s obviously carried over to the U.S. Open.

“Momentum is a huge thing in golf, and I feel like I have it right now,” Clark said. “Just keep it going. Keep pushing that momentum ball down the hill.”

With what happened with Clark at the U.S. Open last year — he damaged lockers at Oakmont Country Club after barely missing the cut, just a month after throwing a club/damaging a sign at the PGA Championship — Clark is hoping better behavior, combined with improvement in his golf game, will help make amends with golf fans who took considerable exception to his actions last year.

“I’ve gotten a lot of grief since last year — rightfully so,” he said. “The thing that's unfortunate is that's not who I am, what happened last year. I'm hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible incident. I really feel like I can show people that I'm fun and outgoing, I'm fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment. Hopefully I can win those people back.

“I definitely feel like I'm in a better place. Hopefully a great weekend and great rest of the year, maybe I'll gain all those fans back.”

For all the scores from the U.S. Open, CLICK HERE.

About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com